During car crashes and accidents, there are times that its occupants can’t get out easily. There are times when the only way to get out of that situation is to remove the roof or the sides of the vehicle. To prepare for these situations, rescue people like fire fighters train and practice. Of course, they need something they could practice on, and usually, an old vehicle on its way to the scrap yard is utilized.

But for a certain fire service school based in Nuremberg, Germany, firefighters have the privilege of practicing the removal drill using a new Porsche Panamera -- as donated by the German sports car maker. Apparently, Porsche has found it more productive for fire fighters if they get to practice on a new vehicle, rather than on an old vehicle. After all, the roads in Germany – one of the centers of vehicle production in Europe – are increasingly becoming home to a greater number of new vehicles.

Actually, this practice car employed at the fire service school was a pre-production development version of the Porsche Panamera. Most of the time, pre-production vehicles are laden with unusual features and elements, making them a possible liability once sold to the public. Thus, once a carmaker has already realized the need for such pre-production unit, it would send this car to be scrapped. But, in the case of this pre-production Panamera, Porsche has taken a different route. According to Porsche, the pre-production Panamera unit “had already served its purpose” and was no longer required at the company, so it has decided to donate this car to the training facility.

Along with the Panamera training car, Porsche also provided rescue sheets – documents that outline specific instructions on how emergency services could properly and promptly remove certain parts or components of the vehicle in order to rescue its occupants, disclosed Alexander Grenz from the carmaker’s department of Technical Service. These rescue sheets also indicate the specific model and the key components of the vehicle, like its fuel tank and battery as well as high-voltage components. These rescue sheets also provide additional technical information on the car. Studying these components and parts should allow the rescue team to quickly and safely remove people from the car.

As for the Porsche Panamera training vehicle, the rescue sheets include special instructions on how to remove the vehicle’s B-pillar. The training includes the usage of tools like large shears to cut apart the Panamera’s B-pillar and thereby allow the rescue team to gain access to its trapped occupants.

Perhaps other carmakers could follow suit and donate some of their unused vehicles to these training facilities, taking their social responsibility a notch higher than usual.